Joshua is the leader of the people of God as they win the
most important battles in their history.
In the book that carries his name we hear the stories of victory. The Israelites
win time after time…in battle after battle.
We all desire to win in the battles that matter in life…over and over
again. “How to Win?” is the question.
Winning comes from
the strength to stand the courage to obey.
God commands Joshua to lead his people to conquer the
Promised Land. He promises to be with
him wherever he goes, yet he also tells him where to go. He promises to be with Joshua as he was with
Moses, yet he tells him do everything I commanded Moses to command to you. He tells him he will never leave him nor
forsake, yet he also tells him what to do with his life.
Victory is not only possible it is promised. Often we lose because we are trying to win
wrong battles. The battle that most of
us, as Christ-followers, struggle with is the not the battle between absolute
rebellion and absolute obedience. It is
the battle
between excellence and obedience.
Excellence can be defined as winning by our definition. Obedience is
winning by God’s definition. Excellence is our attempt to create the perception of obedience.
Are you willing to accept God’s absolute standard of
obedience or are you okay with the perception of obedience? Are you a man living without the “hint of
sexual immorality” or are you living by the world’s view of excellence that you
can “look but not touch”? Are you a lady
living by God’s Word commanding “modesty” or are you accepting the world’s view
of excellence that being “proud” of your body means showing that body?
Excellent standards typically are half-truths. It is excellent to not touch, but it is
obedient to not lust. It is excellent to
be confident in who and how God created you physically, but it is obedient to
“not cause another to stumble.”
Obviously these are two simple examples of what excellence
vs. obedience looks like in real life.
What are you striving for?
Winning at things that do not
matter in life does not matter in life.
